Pacsun: PACSUN BEACH BALLYHOO

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Live Events, Stunts and or Celebrity Endorsement

Advertiser: PACSUN

Product/Service: LIFESTYLE RETAILER

Executive Creative Director: John Boiler (72andSunny)

Director of PR: Kerry Fitzmaurice (72andSunny)

Sr. Publicist: Hilary Craven (72andSunny)

Jr. Publicist: Alexandria Spott (72andSunny)

Jr. Publicist: Maya Sobolev (72andSunny)

Jr. Publicist: Katie Hammond (72andSunny)

Brand Director: Evin Shutt (72andSunny)

Strategy Director: Kelly Schoeffel (72andSunny)

Brand Manager: Whit Cavanah (72andSunny)

Writer: Holly Hessler (72andSunny)

Designer: Petere Vattanatham (72andSunny)

Designer: Christina Kelly (72andSunny)

Designer: Victoria Macey (72andSunny)

Brand Coordinator: Kristin Miller (72andSunny)

Print Producer: Gil Reyes (72andSunny)

Media placement: Press Release - Pitchfork, Transworld Surf, Los Angeles Times, Shop-Eat-Surf, Alternative Appare - 3 June 2010

Media placement: Wrap Release - Apparel News, US Weekly, Filter, Fader, Shop-Eat-Surf, E! News, Grimy Goods, Lab - 22 June 2010

Media placement: Radio Promotion - KCRW, KROQ - 7 June 2010

Media placement: VIP Ticket Giveaway Contest - Venus Zine, Nylon Magazine, SPIN Magazine, Flavorpill, KROQ, KCRW, Fox BMX, Grim - 7 June 2010

Media placement: Street Team - Miike Snow Concert, The Xx Concert At The Palladium, Murs At House Of Blues, Mew - 3 June 2010



Summary of the Campaign

Retail giant PacSun hired a new CEO and CMO and decided to reinvigorate the brand to make it more relevant to their target customers, ages 16-24.

Ideally they wanted their consumers to equate PacSun as a key retailer that embodies the California lifestyle and the only place for summer essentials.

They wanted to convey that they are more than a store – PacSun is a touchstone for music and action sports.



We were tasked with creating a unique and fun summer event that would be PacSun’s coming out party while also giving a platform for the heritage brand partners to express themselves under this unique retail umbrella. We concepted the event and named it the PacSun Beach Ballyhoo. A one-of-a-kind summer festival that brings together the most buzzed about bands, the most buzzed about brands, and the best riders in action sports for two days of art, music and sport experimentation. The only way in is to pick up your ticket at a PacSun store.

We used both traditional and non-traditional PR tactics to create buzz before the event, excite media on site and to secure editorial placements after the event.



The Situation

PacSun is a leading lifestyle specialty retailer rooted in action sports and the youth culture of California.

The store caters to young men and women and sells casual apparel with a limited selection of accessories and footwear. The Company operates 852 stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico.



PacSun had done little to no media outreach in it’s 30 years as a retailer. The brand was making a lot of new changes and wanted to make the consumer was aware. By creating an event from the ground up, PacSun connected with consumers and media to reinforce PacSun’s dedication their lifestyle and needs. This event spoke to a range of verticals including music, fashion, lifestyle and endemic media.



The Goal

The goal for this event was to promote PacSun in an original way by spreading the word and creating buzz about the Beach Ballyhoo event in Southern California as well as drive traffic to stores through target audience: consumers, editors, lifestyle editors, endemic, online, national media and bloggers. We also wanted to create buzz amongst industry insiders, consumers, and influencers. PacSun wanted to move into more of an aspirational age, so the target in this instance was 16- 24 year olds.



The research included looking at the current trends in fashion, music, action sports and art and giving a strategic point of view to the client from our findings.



The Strategy

Our strategy included a mixture of both traditional and non-traditional tactics. We reached out to the wide media through a series of press releases, used our relationships with radio stations to develop ticket giveaways, we worked with the band management to maximize exclusive interviews with the festival bands. Additionally, we sent customized tickets to key celebs and influencers far in advance of the event to build excitement. We also utilized our street teams to hand out flyers, poster relevant locations and drive customers to stores to pick up their free tickets.



On site we handled all of the media wrangling for the bands and action sports components of the event as well as managing the step and repeat and VIP lounges.



Execution

The PR plan included heavy pre-event planning, which included band consultation, event look and feel, and strategy development.

During the activation phase we aligned with a number of street teams to distribute flyers and posters in high traffic areas in Los Angeles.

An additional component was engaging key celebrities and influencers before the event to commit to attending and to create buzz via social media outlets. We also organized a number of ticket giveaways with key radio stations and online media. The final component was drafting and distributing press releases to key media and handling all of the onsite PR activities. We built a very detailed PR strategy, which we followed closely to ensure that the event ran smoothly, efficiently, and successfully.



Documented Results

Over two days, attendance exceeded three times what was expected, totalling 20,000 attendees.

- 100,000 viewed the live webcast via pacsun.com.

- Secured over 160 million media impressions.

- Drove Back to School sales and traffic into PacSun stores.

- Started to change the perception of PacSun in the minds of young people.